


But I Like You

by NainThePain



Category: Runaways (Comics), Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Costume Party, Doc Justice and the J-Team, F/F, Fake Dating, Halloween
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:55:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27066754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NainThePain/pseuds/NainThePain
Summary: If there’s one thing Nico hates, it’s Halloween. But when Gert drags her to a Halloween party full of costume contests, misunderstandings, and fake dating, will she change her mind?
Relationships: Chase Stein/Gertrude Yorkes, Karolina Dean/Nico Minoru
Comments: 17
Kudos: 122





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm really happy to be able to get this out in time for Halloween! I hope you like it!
> 
> I will be updating Saturdays.

Nico likes to think of herself as a reasonable person. She generally tolerates things, and people, even if they can be completely idiotic and pointless. 

She puts up with her roommate Gert’s constant obsession over dinosaurs, even if there are only so many times a person can hear her explain how movies always use deinonychuses instead of velociraptors, and how really they should be more accurate if they want to properly educate the general populace. 

She even puts up with Gert’s new puppy, Old Lace, when she decides that the girl’s shoes are better for chewing on than any of the many dinosaur themed toys the purple haired girl keeps buying for her. 

And yet despite all the annoying things she tolerates on a daily basis, she can’t help the way her mood sours as her least favourite holiday of the year approaches. 

She has never understood the love people seem to have for Halloween. 

The rest of the year, everyone gives her choice of wardrobe confused and judgemental looks, her black clothes and thick eyeliner making her stand out in a crowd. But then Halloween comes around and people start dressing like her for fun and complimenting her cool ‘witch costume’. It’s all so fake and she hates it. 

The store she’s been working at for the past few months, the one that makes all its employees wear Hawaiian shirts, is in the midst of its big Halloween blowout, and Nico is in a particularly bad mood when she gets home from work today. 

“People suck,” she declares as she slams the front door of the apartment shut behind her, flopping down on the couch. 

“Rough day at work?” Gert smirks as she makes her way out of the kitchen, taking a seat across from the other girl. 

“That’s an understatement,” Nico sighs, her voice muffled by the pillow her face is currently pressed against. “Five people today told me they liked my witch costume.”

“ _You_ wore a costume?” the other girl asks, raising an eyebrow incredulously. 

The girl currently sprawled across the couch lifts her head to make eye contact with Gert before responding, an exasperated expression on her face. “ _No_.”

The other girl starts laughing at this, a grin covering her face, and Nico rolls her eyes with a huff as she waits for her to stop.

“Yeah yeah, I dress like a witch, very funny.”

“I’m sorry. I know you hate this time of year,” Gert apologizes once her laughter dies down. 

“Another understatement,” Nico deadpans. 

“And so I really hate to even ask you this, but something happened today and I really need your help,” she continues, and Nico’s eyebrows quirk upwards. She sits up then from where she’s been lying, unbuttoning her Hawaiian shirt and tossing it over the arm of the couch as she does, leaving her in a black tank top. 

“Okay, what’s up?” 

“You know that guy I’ve been out with a couple times?” Gert starts nervously, and Nico has to suppress a laugh because _yes_ , she’s heard of him. 

“You mean Chase Stein, star of Atlas University’s lacrosse team and love of your life?” 

“Hey! That’s not true!” the purple haired girl protests, but Nico just laughs. “Well, I mean the first parts are, but that last part definitely isn’t!”

“Please, you’ve been obsessed with him for like a year.”

“What- I’m not _obsessed!_ ”

“Sure,” the black haired girl dismisses, a teasing grin on her face. “Whatever you say. What is it you wanted to ask me?”

“We will revisit this topic later, but I am moving on because I really need this favour from you,” Gert says, narrowing her eyes at the other girl, whose grin only widens. 

“So Chase invited me to this party he and his roommate are throwing, and I really don’t want to go alone. Please could you-” she starts, but Nico interrupts her before she can finish. 

“Yeah, sure. I’ll come as long as I’m not working,” she shrugs. “When is it?”

“See, that’s the thing… It’s on Halloween.”

“No. No way,” Nico says quickly, standing up from the couch. “There is no way in _hell_ that you’re dragging me to a Halloween party.”

“Nico, please?”

“No.”

Gert takes a deep breath before looking the other girl directly in the eyes and speaking. “The truth is, I do really like Chase. I like him to the point that I’m super nervous about this party, which obviously is dumb because he’s just a guy and there are more important things I should be worrying about both on a global level like social injustices and also on a personal level like my career, but it would really mean a lot to me if you would come to the party with me even though Halloween embodies literally everything you hate.” 

Gert shifts uncomfortably as she waits for her response, and Nico’s expression softens. She may hate Halloween, but she does love Gert, so she can maybe probably manage to put aside her dislike of the holiday for one night and help out her best friend, even if it kills her. Which it very well might. 

“Yeah, okay fine,” she mumbles, and Gert’s face lights up. 

“Thank you!” she all but squeals, before wrapping the other girl in a tight hug. 

“Yeah, yeah. You’d just better make it up to me,” Nico responds with a teasing eye roll and a smile. 

“For sure, I owe you big time,” Gert agrees, finally releasing the other girl. “There’s just one little tiny detail I forgot to mention- it’s a costume party.”

“ _Seriously?_ ”

—————

Nico grumbles to herself as she trudges down the sidewalk after her shift, her jacket zipped up all the way to hide her work uniform underneath. She really wouldn’t be doing this if she had any other choice, she usually wouldn’t be caught dead in a place like this. But she promised Gert, and she has no intention of letting her down when she needs her. God knows Gert’s helped her out countless times when it was the other way around. 

The bell above the door chimes as she steps into the costume shop, and she takes a moment to steel herself before walking towards a shelf stacked with costume after costume, each depicting a popular character that Nico undoubtedly doesn’t recognize. She spends a few minutes browsing the choices, but there’s not really a point since she hates all of them equally. 

She eventually settles on a fairly basic costume, a black spandex bodysuit with a green hood and cape, black crescent moon shapes scattered across it. She won’t be able to wear the mask though, considering the strict instructions Gert had given her about being allowed to conceal her face, which is unfortunate because she will most certainly die of embarrassment if anyone she knows sees her dressed up, celebrating the worst holiday to ever exist. 

She grabs one in her size, taking it to the counter to pay so she can get the hell out of there as soon as possible. 

A tall, muscular man with dark hair greets her with a smile as she pulls out her wallet.

“The Gloom, huh? A good choice,” the man, whose name tag reads _Gib,_ says kindly as she passes him the money. 

“Yeah, thanks.”

“You read any of the comics?” he asks. 

“Uh, no, not really,” she answers, grabbing the costume and stuffing into her bag. She pauses for a second before she leaves the store, not wanting to seem rude. “Thanks.”

“Please come again!” the man, Gib, says cheerfully as she leaves, and she gives him a tight smile in return. There is no way she’s ever coming back here. 

—————

“Look at you! You look so good!” Gert exclaims when Nico steps out of her room on the night of the party, dressed in her costume. 

“Shut up,” Nico responds through clenched teeth as she glares at the girl in front of her, feeling absolutely ridiculous at having gotten dressed up for Halloween. “Not a word.”

Gert smiles broadly but mimes zipping her lips, and Nico pushes past her and into the living room. 

The other girl follows close behind, she too dressed in her costume, a pair of navy coveralls with a picture of a dinosaur printed across her back, and an ID card hanging from a lanyard around her neck. 

“What are you supposed to be anyways?” Nico asks her as she pulls her boots on at the door. 

“I’m a dinosaur trainer!” Gert explains, a smile on her face. “Old Lace! Here girl!”

Happy panting and quick footsteps can be heard and a second later an excited puppy rounds the corner, tail wagging as she runs up to Gert. 

The puppy is dressed in a one piece costume that is designed to look like a dinosaur, brown with blue patterning along the back, reaching all the way down to a fake tail tied around her real one. 

“Hey Lacey!” Gert coos, bending down to pet Old Lace as she jumps around happily. 

“Really?” Nico asks, eyebrows raised, and the other girl turns to look at her. 

“Yes really. What’s that supposed to mean?” she asks, narrowing her eyes. 

“Nothing,” Nico shrugs, a smirk taking over her face. “I’d just figured that you’d be doing a couple’s costume with lacrosse boy.”

Gert stands then, rolling her eyes. “Ha ha, very funny,” she drawls, before taking Old Lace’s leash off its hook and attaching it to her harness under her costume. 

Both girls file out of the apartment, along with an excited puppy, and it isn’t long until Gert’s parked the car and they find themselves standing in front of a plain brown door. 

“I look stupid,” Nico says just as Gert’s reaching for the doorknob, and she quickly turns towards the girl next to her. 

“You do not,” she insists, looking at the other girl’s costume again. “Honestly, you pull it off really well. You look great.”

Nico sighs, and Gert turns the doorknob then and the door swings open, revealing a Halloween party in full swing inside the small, modestly furnished apartment. 

There are around thirty people milling around, drinks in hand and chatting happily while music plays from the speakers. Everyone is dressed in costumes, ranging anywhere from vampires with yellow eyes and pierced eyebrows to hulking elder gods, and Nico is already regretting coming. 

To make matters worse, Gert immediately spots lacrosse boy from across the room and grabs Nico’s arm, pulling her along with her as she heads over to talk to him. 

“Hey Chase. You look really great,” the purple haired girl greets, and Nico can’t help but stare at the girl next to her because she has never _once_ heard Gert be that nice to anyone before. 

“I mean, your costume looks good. Not that the rest of you doesn’t. It does. I mean you do-” she continues, fumbling over her words until Nico elbows her in the side. 

“Hi, I’m Nico,” she says, sticking out her hand for Chase to shake. “Gert’s best friend and roommate. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“It’s good to meet you, Nico,” Chase says with a charming smile as he shakes her hand. “Nothing bad, I hope.”

“Nothing too incriminating. I’m still holding out judgment though.”

“You’d better make a good impression then huh? Don’t screw this up!” the boy next to Chase, with whom he’d been talking before they had shown up, says with a laugh, clearly having made use of the copious amounts of alcohol strewn across the apartment’s kitchen table. 

“Thanks, Vic,” Chase responds, shaking his head as he chuckles at the boy’s antics.

“Oh, this is Victor,” he adds quickly, motioning to the boy in question. 

“Best friend and roommate,” the brown haired boy says with a clumsy salute. “And by the way, just let me say how much I love your costume. The Gloom has to be one of the best heroes of all time on the J-Team roster, her storyline is just so complex! And her costume is really great too, she’s just awesome, don’t you think?”

“Uh, yeah,” Nico answers hesitantly, and maybe next time she should just pick the most obscure costume, that way no one will want to talk about it. Except _no_ , because there’s no way in hell that there’s going to be a _next time_. 

Suddenly, and mercifully, they’re interrupted by a brown haired girl, a few years younger than them, who’s dressed in what looks to be a homemade superhero costume, blue boots and a tattered blue cape, a black shirt with _security_ printed across it in white text, and a black mask tied around her head. 

“This party is so awesome!” she shouts, even though the music isn’t quite loud enough to warrant it. 

“Thanks Molly,” Chase grins, a brotherly demeanour taking over his features as he looks at the younger girl fondly. “Your costume turned out great, by the way!”

“I know right?” she smiles back. “It sucks that my parents are like, _evil_ or something and wouldn’t buy me a costume for the most important night of the year, but I think I still look pretty cool.”

“Definitely,” Victor nods vigorously in agreement. 

“I like your costumes too,” Molly says, motioning towards the two boys.

Chase is wearing a white lab coat over a purple shirt and tan slacks, goggles with green lenses in the shape of Xs perched in his hair and metal gloves on his hands that look like they would have some serious firepower if they weren’t built out of scraps Chase had found lying around and welded together in his free time. 

Victor, on the other hand, is dressed in a robot costume he had purchased, shiny silver with lights and fake buttons all over it, an intricate helmet with multiple antennas sticking out of it on his head. 

“They’re very… matchy,” she continues. “Did you guys enter the couple’s costume contest?”

Victor grins widely in response to Molly’s words, looking back and forth between himself and Chase excitedly like he’s only just realized how well their costumes go together, while the taller boy just looks confused. 

“There’s a couple’s costume contest?” he asks, his brow furrowed. “I thought _we_ were hosting this party? Shouldn’t I know about this?”

“Oh yeah,” Victor nods. “I forgot to tell you. Alex wanted to do a couple’s costume contest and I gave him the go ahead. I hope that’s cool.”

“Uh, _yeah_ it’s cool,” Chase agrees quickly. “Come on, we’d better go sign up! I’ll catch you later, Gert,” he says over his shoulder as he drags Victor away to the other side of the room. 

Nico turns to the purple haired girl beside her, smirking as she takes in the confused expression written all across her face. 

“You good?” she asks with a laugh, and Gert turns quickly towards her. 

“What just happened?” she asks, eyes wide. “Did I misread the signals? He and Victor are doing a _couple’s costume?_ ”

“Nah, you didn’t misread anything,” the younger girl says, and Gert startles before turning towards her, clearly having forgotten she was still there. 

“Well, maybe this conversation. But Chase definitely likes you. He talks about you like, all the time,” she continues, before her gaze snaps to Old Lace, her eyes widening as she apparently notices her for the first time. 

“Oh my god. Your puppy is the cutest thing I have ever seen. Can I pet it?” she asks, looking up pleadingly towards Gert who just nods. 

“Her name’s Old Lace,” Nico supplies as Molly bends down and starts petting the excited little puppy. 

“Wait, so Chase likes me then?” Gert asks, and Molly looks up at her. “Not that it matters though, because I don’t need a man to have worth,” she amends quickly, but the fact that she really does care shows clearly in her eyes. 

“Oh definitely,” the younger girl nods. “You have nothing to be worried about.”

“Oh okay. Cool. That’s cool,” Gert supplies, a wide grin splitting her face and Nico can’t help but laugh. 

“You’re a dinosaur trainer, right?” Molly asks then. “And she’s your dinosaur! Your costumes are so good!” 

“Thanks,” Gert smiles. “I like your superhero costume too. It’s very cool.”

“Thanks! It’s not as fancy as The Gloom or anything, but I like it,” she says as she looks at Nico, who stares back blankly. 

“Okay then, well I’m not going to make it through this party sober. I’ll find you later?” she says, not really waiting for an answer before turning around and heading towards the table where the drinks are kept. 

She grabs a drink quickly then heads over to a quiet corner of the room. She leans against the wall casually, drinking as she spends the next hour people watching and silently hating Gert for dragging her here. At least the alcohol’s good though. 

She’s just pouring herself another drink when the door to the apartment swings open, a tall blonde girl dressed in a white costume with angel wings and knee-high boots, gold trim completing the look, stepping through the doorway. 

She’s gorgeous, and Nico can’t help but stare. She wants to go and talk to her, and she would if she had any hope that it would go well, but honestly she’s not the best at first impressions. Gert’s always telling her that she comes off as cold and distant, so really she’s going to need at least a couple more drinks in her before she can even entertain the idea. 

She’s pulled away from her staring when someone taps her lightly on the shoulder, and she turns around to find herself facing a bespectacled boy dressed like a villain, a black cape completing the look. 

“Hi! I’m so glad you could make it!” he exclaims, looking all too happy to see her considering the fact that she has no clue as to who he is. 

“Uh, hi,” she responds tentatively. 

“It’s really great to meet you, I’m Alex,” he continues, apparently oblivious to Nico’s confusion as he sticks out a hand for her to shake. 

“Nico,” she replies, taking a sip from her drink and very obviously not going for the handshake. 

He drops his hand quickly, but the smile doesn’t disappear from his face. 

“You know, I probably shouldn’t be telling you this, but we were starting to think that she’d made you up,” he laughs. 

“What?” Nico says, because what is this boy talking about? Has Gert been telling people about her?

“Don’t take it the wrong way though! Karolina’s really great, it’s just that her past girlfriends haven’t always been,” he says, as if that explains literally anything, before quickly continuing. “Not that you’re not great, that’s what I’m saying, you seem really great!”

“Uh, I really don’t know what you’re-” she starts, a lost expression on her face because if she was confused before, she has absolutely no idea what’s going on now. 

“Sorry, the couple’s costume contest is about to start, and I’m supposed to be running it,” he says as he turns to leave, pausing just before he does. “Oh, and I signed the two of you up for it, I hope you don’t mind!”

And with that he’s gone, leaving a very confused Nico watching as he heads over to the living room, where he clears his throat and calls for everyone’s attention. 

“Okay everyone, it’s now time to announce the entries in the couple’s costume contest,” he calls, and nearly every person in the room turns to face him. 

“For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Alex, and Chase and Victor were nice enough to allow me to run this little contest at their party,” he continues and the crowd cheers their thanks to the two boys in question, who smile at the praise. 

“Now, onto the important things. First off, speaking of Chase and Victor, they’re our first entry, as an inventor and his robot. Please come over here, boys,” Alex says, motioning towards the two, who come quickly over to him to show off their costumes to a smattering of applause. 

“Up next are Tandy and Tyrone, who are dressed as light and darkness,” he continues as another couple comes up to show off their costumes as well.

This continues for a few minutes, several more couples coming to the front of the living room as everyone else in the room pretends to pay attention. Or at least that’s what Nico’s been doing, she assumes everyone else has been too. 

“And now for our last entry,” Alex says, and _finally_ , because Nico’s really not sure how much more of this she can take. 

“Karolina, dressed as Princess Justice the Third,” he introduces as the blonde Nico had noticed earlier makes her way over to him, and okay yeah, now she’s actually paying attention. 

“And dressed as The Gloom, her girlfriend Nico!” he finishes happily, and Nico’s eyes widen as she stares in shock at the girl, Karolina, her own expression mirrored exactly in the other girl’s face. 

Because _what_ , in the actual hell, is happening?


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone who read, left kudos, and/or commented!
> 
> First of all, Runaways issue 32 was moved to next week and I'm so HAPPY!!!!!! I can't wait for this next arc, from the teaser it sounds really good!! (Although that's not a surprise since this entire run has been amazing!)
> 
> Second (you can skip this part if you've not read the comics or are uninterested in my random explanation), I have headcanonned that Princess Justice the Third is the one Princess Justice (other than Karolina, obviously) who Doc wasn't married to, and she was the one who took on the mantle of Doc Justice for a year when he left. Also, she was dating the Gloom, who is named Audrey. (This is relevant to this chapter by the way, not _completely_ random.)
> 
> Okay that's all, hope you like this chapter!

Nico stands frozen in place, too surprised and confused to move, as the party guests all turn towards her expectantly, waiting for her to make her way to the front of the room where Alex and Karolina are waiting for her. 

She searches the crowd for a second before her eyes find Gert’s, green eyes looking at her, bewildered. Nico’s feet finally start moving then and she finds herself making her way to where she’s been called to, because what else can she do, really? Leave the pretty girl standing up there waiting on her in front of everyone?

She forces a smile onto her face as she takes her place next to Karolina, waiting patiently as people look at their costumes and once again mentally cursing Gert for having dragged her here in the first place. 

“Alright, and that concludes our entries, please remember to fill out a ballot before midnight so we can select our winners!” Alex announces after what feels like much too long, and pretty soon the rest of the guests have all gone back to their conversations, and Nico’s left awkwardly standing next to Karolina as Alex heads off to set up the ballot box. 

She focuses intently on the floor in front of her, studiously avoiding looking at the girl next to her as she waits for her to offer up some sort of explanation, to really just say anything, because Nico has no idea where to begin. 

“I’m really sorry about that,” the blonde says finally, and Nico turns towards her at the sound. “I guess he just assumed because of our costumes, I swear I didn’t say anything. I can go correct him right now.”

“Okay,” Nico nods, because what else is she going to say? That it’s fine because she’s been looking for an excuse to talk to her all evening, so really she’s glad this whole misunderstanding happened?

“It’s just…” Karolina continues, trailing off nervously and Nico raises an eyebrow, waiting for her to go on. 

“Sorry, nothing. Never mind, it’s weird,” she dismisses quickly, which only makes the shorter girl want to know what she was going to say even more. 

“What is it?” she asks, and she can’t help but notice just how adorable the slight blush covering the taller girl’s cheeks is. 

Karolina looks up at the ceiling for a second before meeting Nico’s eyes determinedly, taking a breath before blurting out what she had wanted to say. 

“It’s just, I was supposed to come to the party with this girl, Julie, so I had told everyone I was bringing someone. But the thing is, I don’t exactly have the best track record with girlfriends. So when I said this time it was different, nobody really believed me,” she says, and Nico nods along, not entirely sure how this concerns her and trying to mask her disappointment at the mention of Julie, the _girlfriend_. 

“I guess they were right after all, since Julie canceled on me last minute, which is fine I guess, I didn’t really know her that well to begin with. But I couldn’t find the right time to tell my friends that things didn’t work out between us, so I guess Alex just assumed we were together when he saw you,” Karolina continues, and okay, so Julie’s _not_ the girlfriend, good to know. 

“And… I don’t know why I’m telling you this. Sorry. I’ll just go talk to Alex now,” she finishes, and Nico knows she’s only just met her, but something about the heartfelt rambling speech the girl in front of her just nervously delivered makes her want to spend more time with her. And okay yeah, so maybe she also has a bit of a thing for dorks. 

“Hey,” she says, catching Karolina’s wrist lightly just as she’s leaving, making her turn back towards the shorter girl. “I’ll do it.”

“What?” the blonde asks, looking at Nico confusedly, and okay, she’s completely adorable, maybe this dumb party won’t be a complete waste of time after all. 

“You want me to pretend that I came with you, right?” she asks, raising an eyebrow, and Karolina nods hesitantly in response. 

“I mean, yeah, but I couldn’t possibly ask you to do that, you don’t even know me, it wouldn’t be-” she starts, rambling again and Nico can’t help but smile, laughter in her eyes as she takes in the girl in front of her. 

“It’s fine, really,” she interrupts, and Karolina quickly stops talking as a wide grin takes over her face. 

“Okay, yeah. If you’re sure?”

“Don’t even worry about it, my friend dragged me here and I don’t really know anyone anyways,” Nico shrugs. “At least now I’ll know one more person.”

“Well okay then, thank you,” the blonde smiles sincerely, and suddenly Nico’s stomach is filled with butterflies. 

“We should, uh- Should we come up with a story or something? I don’t know how convincing you want this to be,” she asks then, because now she’s starting to get nervous, she could actually really like this girl and she doesn’t want to mess this up. 

“Oh, yeah okay, that’s probably a good idea,” Karolina answers. “Do you want to maybe go sit down somewhere and talk about this?”

Nico nods and soon she’s following Karolina into another room of the apartment, the taller girl closing the poster-covered door behind them. 

The room itself is fairly small, but every inch of the walls are covered in papers of some sort, whether posters like the door, or hastily scribbled sketches, or what look to be blueprints. There’s a desk by the window, various metal scraps scattered across it along with some intimidating-looking tools, crumpled pieces of paper spilling out of the wastebasket on the floor next to it. Aside from the other half-finished projects littering the floor of the room, the only other thing of note is the double bed in the middle, a dark blue comforter with a picture of a giant cartoon frog haphazardly spread across it. 

“Uh…” Nico starts as she looks around the room. This isn’t exactly what she had thought the other girl had meant when she suggested going somewhere to talk. 

“Oh, sorry! I should have asked first. This is Chase’s room, he won’t mind us hanging out here for a bit, don’t worry,” Karolina explains quickly, motioning to the cluttered room they find themselves standing in. “We can totally go somewhere else if you’d be more comfortable in the main room or something. I just thought we’d have more privacy here.”

“No. No it’s fine. Here’s good,” Nico says, because there’s no way she’s going to say no to spending time alone with Karolina. 

“Okay cool,” the blonde says happily, taking a seat on the edge of Chase’s bed and motioning for the other girl to join her. 

Nico sits down next to her, careful to leave space between them since they’re only pretending to date, after all. Even if she hopes that maybe by the end of the night it might become something a little more real. 

“Okay then,” Nico nods after a short silence, not really sure how to start this conversation. Oddly enough, she’s never actually pretended to date someone she’d only just met before. 

“Yeah,” Karolina says awkwardly, biting her bottom lip as she fiddles with the hem of her costume, and Nico guesses that’s as good a place as any to start. 

“Okay, so Alex assumed we were together because of our costumes right?” she asks, and the girl next to her shifts to face her, readjusting her position on the bed. 

“Yeah,” the blonde nods. “Honestly probably half the people here thought we were together even before Alex said anything,” she adds with a shrug. 

“Really?” Nico asks, surprised.

“Oh for sure. The first lesbian couple on the J-Team, or any other mainstream superhero team for that matter, and one of the most iconic couples in comics?” she says excitedly. “Of course people just assumed we were together.”

She pauses then, taking in the black haired girl’s confused expression at her words. 

“Wait, you’ve seriously never heard of them? Their ship name’s Princess Gloom?” she asks incredulously, and Nico just shakes her head. 

“Wow, okay then,” Karolina says, clearly shocked, and the other girl can’t help but feel a little sheepish at not even knowing the first thing about the costume she’s wearing. 

“You’ve heard of the J-Team at least though, right?” she continues, and Nico just shakes her head helplessly again. 

“Sorry,” she shrugs. “I kind of just picked out a random costume…”

“It’s fine. It’s fine,” Karolina says. “Okay, we’d better get started then, since apparently we have a lot to cover.”

“We could say that you got me interested in Team J so I still don’t know much about them?” Nico suggests. 

“Um, yeah, that could work,” she answers. “But at the very least you should know that they’re called the J-Team, not Team J.”

“Okay. J-Team, got it,” Nico says with a nod, and Karolina laughs. 

“So all I told my friends was that I met this girl last week at a coffee shop, and I was bringing her to the party,” Karolina explains. “I didn’t mention a name or anything either, so we’re at least good on that front.”

“Alright, that’s generic enough. I drink coffee. It works,” Nico confirms. “So we started talking, and I had just started reading the J-Team comics, and you got all cute and excited like you do when you talk about Princess Sparkles and The Sad Kid or whatever, so I asked you out and you suggested this party.”

“Okay, first of all, yeah, that sounds good,” the taller girl agrees, before bursting into laughter. “Second of all, _Princess Sparkles_ and _The Sad Kid?_ You can’t really be that bad at names!” she continues between giggles, and Nico can’t help but grin at the adorable reaction she’d managed to get out of the other girl. 

“Sorry, sorry,” she says, laughing too. “Princess Justice and The Gloom.”

“The Third.”

“What?”

“Princess Justice the Third. You can’t forget the _the Third_ , it’s important,” Karolina explains. “There were two other Princess Justices, but they both died. Jen’s by far the best though.”

“Okay, noted,” Nico nods, admittedly a little lost, but doing her best to follow what the other girl is saying. 

“So Princess Justice the Third, her real name’s Jen. She took over when Doc Justice disappeared, and then when she was on a mission in one issue she met Audrey,” Karolina continues. 

“You’re Audrey in this story, by the way. So Audrey was a cat burglar, but Jen managed to convince her to join the J-Team. There was a whole arc about it, I’ll show it to you sometime,” she says, before stopping suddenly. 

It takes Nico a second to figure out what caused her abrupt silence. They had agreed to pretend for tonight, but were they ever going to see each other again?

She quickly reaches out and places a hand on the other girl’s forearm in reassurance. Well, mostly reassurance. Partly she’s just realizing how much she really likes this dorky, excited, gorgeous girl in front of her, and really wouldn’t mind being a bit closer to her. 

“I would love for you to show me sometime,” Nico smiles, and Karolina’s face splits into a grin. 

“Okay cool. Yeah. That sounds good,” she says, stumbling over her words, her cheeks turning a delicate shade of pink as Nico chuckles at her response. 

“So then after she joins the team they start dating, right?” Nico asks, and Karolina nods. 

“It’s not quite as simple as that, the arc they finally get together is actually one of the best in the series, it’s _so_ amazing, I’ll definitely have to show you that one too,” she says excitedly, and Nico’s actually looking forward to hearing about all this geeky stuff for once. 

“So what about you then?” Karolina asks. “You know I love the J-Team, what do you love? Or not love?”

Nico hesitates for a second before answering, but she knows there’s no way Gert won’t see right through this unless she’s completely honest with Karolina. 

“Actually… I really hate Halloween,” Nico says, and she watches as the other girl’s eyebrows raise in surprise. 

“Really?”

“Yeah. I’m only here because my friend dragged me along,” she shrugs. 

“Okay, well we’re going to need a really good reason why you’re here anyways, and we’ll need to avoid your friend,” Karolina says. 

“Well, for the first part, I would say you’re a pretty good reason for me to come here,” Nico says with a smirk, causing Karolina to blush. “But as for the second part, that might be hard. I doubt Gert’s going to be leaving Chase’s side all night.”

The blonde’s eyebrows raise then, her blush forgotten. “Gert’s here? Chase has been talking about her like nonstop since the last time he saw her.”

Nico nods before answering. “Yeah, she’s been talking about him constantly too,” she laughs. “Don’t worry though, she owes me, I can make sure she doesn’t say anything.”

“This is getting complicated…” Karolina sighs, looking suddenly unsure in their decision to go through with this. 

“We don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Nico tells her, and yeah, maybe this was a dumb idea to begin with. But it’s an excuse to spend time with Karolina, so really it can’t be all that bad, can it?

“No, I want to, I think. I don’t want to prove everybody right, even if it seems like maybe they are. I mean, unless you don’t want to anymore?” she asks nervously, and Nico just smiles back at her. 

“Nah, I’m in,” she says simply, and Karolina matches her smile. 

Suddenly there’s a tentative knock at the door, followed by a voice calling out. 

“Hello? Is someone in there?”

The blonde turns to Nico then, eyes wide with concern and the shorter girl takes a breath before dropping her voice to a whisper. 

“Are you sure you want to do this?” she asks quietly, and a second later Karolina nods, and now Nico’s standing up, moving towards the other girl and invading her personal space until she’s on top of her, straddling her where she sits on the edge of the bed. 

“Is this okay?” she asks then, because making the other girl uncomfortable in any way is the absolute _last_ thing she’s looking to do right now. 

“It’s more than okay,” Karolina breathes in response, and Nico leans in even closer to the girl as a result. 

“So they won’t be suspicious,” she whispers, moving her hands up to the other girl’s cheeks as she prepares to jump off of her when the door opens. 

And yeah okay, maybe this isn’t entirely necessary, but if Nico’s going to spend her evening pretending to date this girl, she’s committing to the role. 

Besides, if the look on Karolina’s face is any indication, she doesn’t mind this new position they find themselves in in the slightest. 

The door handle turns and the door inches open, and Nico’s just about to pull away when suddenly Karolina’s leaning forwards, closing the distance between them and pressing her lips to Nico’s in a soft and tentative kiss. 

The shorter girl melts into it, relishing the feeling of the other girl’s lips on hers, her fingers moving up to tangle in her hair, and okay, she really doesn’t regret agreeing to any of this now, because Karolina really is amazing. 

She’s so caught up in the girl in front of her that she’s caught completely by surprise when someone clears their throat behind her, and her eyes fly open as she hastily stands up and steps away from Karolina. 

She spins around quickly and she can feel her cheeks darkening as she takes in Chase’s surprised expression, mouth agape as he stares between her and the blonde. 

His gaze quickly fixes on the girl next to her, much to Nico’s relief, because as much as she had already liked the girl, she hadn’t quite anticipated just how amazing it would be to kiss her, and she really needs a couple minutes to sort out her thoughts. 

“Uh, sorry Chase. We were just- I mean- We’ll see you later,” Karolina stutters, grabbing Nico’s hand and pulling her out of the room, quickly guiding them down the hall and back into the main room. 

Neither girl makes any move to let go of their joined hands as they start to wander around the room among the other party goers, and really this night has already turned out _so_ much better than Nico had anticipated. 

—————

Karolina holds Nico’s hand tightly as they make their way back to the rest of the party, her thoughts racing because how exactly had she gotten herself into this mess? 

She finally meets an amazing girl that she really, really likes, but for some reason she had convinced her it was a good idea to fake date for tonight and then probably never see each other again. Talk about dumb ideas! And on top of all that, she just kissed her for no reason! Well, not exactly _no_ reason, there’s definitely something between them, she’s just worried that it might be mostly on her end, and less so on Nico’s since the other girl hasn’t said anything since the kiss. 

She looks nervously towards Nico, who somehow manages to meet her eyes immediately, and Karolina can’t help but avert her gaze. She’s really not sure what to say, so she’s just going to let Nico take the lead. It’s safer that way anyways, and she’s not looking to make a fool out of herself tonight. 

“Princess Gloom!” Victor shouts from across the room, swaying slightly as he makes his way over to them, half his weight being supported by Molly, who’s always been surprisingly strong for her size. 

“Hi Victor, hi Molly,” Karolina smiles as they arrive. “This is Nico,” she says as she motions towards the girl next to her, still holding her hand. 

“Yeah, we met,” Victor nods. “But I didn’t know she was yours.”

The blonde blushes at his comment, and quickly tries to come up with something to change the subject away from her and Nico. 

She’s saved from having to say anything though, when Chase and someone who is presumably Gert come over and join the conversation, the purple haired girl’s eyebrow raising as she looks down at Karolina’s hand, fingers currently intertwined with Nico’s. 

“What’s going on here?” Gert asks, and the blonde’s about ready to confess everything, to just tell Chase and Victor that they’re right when they tease her about always picking the wrong girl, but then Nico speaks up. 

“Remember that girl I told you about? The one I met at the coffee shop last week?” she asks, her voice unwavering and a challenging look on her face, as if she’s just daring Gert to call her out, and wow, this girl must be good at poker. 

“Oh right,” the purple haired girl drawls, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “How could I forget?”

“Oh hey, so Nico’s coffee shop girl!” Chase exclaims to Karolina, realization dawning on his face. “That’s so crazy! What a small world, both our girls know each other.”

Not a second later, Chase opens his mouth again, a panicked look taking over his features. “I didn’t mean- not like _our_ girls, obviously, because we haven’t really talked about- but also you obviously don’t belong to anyone, you are fully capable of making your own decisions, but you don’t need me telling you that, I just-” he rambles, before Gert mercifully shuts him up by laying a hand on his upper arm. 

“Whoa, slow down there. I know what you meant,” she smirks, and Chase visibly relaxes. “And for the record, if you _did_ want to talk about something to that effect, about being each other’s, well, it sounds pretty good to me,” Gert continues with a shrug, before turning around and walking off towards the drink table, leaving Chase standing there watching after her for a good minute before he comes to his senses and runs off to find her. 

“Wow, so,” Karolina says, her eyebrows raised as she turns back towards the girl next to her. “It seems like things are going well for them then.”

“Yeah, for sure,” Nico laughs, and she’s pretty sure she’s imagining it, but she would swear that the shorter girl’s grip on her hand tightens then. 

“This is so great, you guys!” Molly says from where she’s still standing with Victor. “You can all go on double dates and stuff together!”

And great, now Molly is invested in her fake relationship. This is suddenly getting a lot more complicated than she really has the mental energy to deal with, especially considering the amount of her brainpower that is currently being taken up by how much she’s suddenly feeling for the girl next to her, and whether or not she can really feasibly do anything about it…

“Uh, so tell me about your costume, Molly,” Nico says then, and Karolina shoots her a grateful look for changing the subject. “You’re a superhero right? That’s pretty cool.”

“Yeah!” the younger girl all but shouts, already having forgotten about the previous topic. “I made it myself. I’m Princess Powerful, and my superpower is super strength!” she explains enthusiastically, and it isn’t long before they’re all listening to the complicated backstory she’s invented for her character, filled with plot twists and dramatic reveals. 

It’s nearly twenty minutes later when they’re interrupted by Alex, and Karolina’s honestly a little disappointed that she’s going to have to wait to hear the end of Princess Powerful’s origin story. It was very… _creative_ , to say the least. She had definitely not been expecting the part where Princess Powerful’s parents turned out to be supervillains. 

“Alright everyone, can I have your attention please?” Alex calls from the front of the room. “Now that everyone has had the chance to vote on best couple’s costume it’s time to tally the results!”

He holds up a sheet of paper then, presumably with the results of the vote, but just as he opens his mouth to speak, a loud thunk can be heard over the music and the lights flicker before going out completely. 

“Uh, just a second folks! I’m sure this will all be sorted out in a minute!” he says quickly, trying to reassure the crowd which is now filled with chatter. 

A minute passes before suddenly the front door flies open, a panicked looking Chase standing on the threshold. His eyes scan the crowd quickly before falling on Victor, and he quickly makes his way towards the group. 

“Uh, guys, we have a problem,” he says when he reaches them, a sheepish expression on his face as he rubs the back of his neck, and _great_ , what has he done now?


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone who read, left kudos, and/or commented! It means a lot to me!
> 
> Also Happy Halloween to those who celebrate it! Stay safe!

Despite the many reassurances the guests are given that the power will be back on very soon, they all end up heading out anyways, and really based on her years of experience with Chase, Karolina can’t blame them. It’s unlikely the power will be back on anytime in the near future. 

“What happened?” she asks Chase, who is now forlornly watching his guests file out of the apartment. 

“Uh, so I set this thing up on the roof for Gert, I was just trying to be romantic, but I think I overestimated how much the circuit could handle, and I kind of… blew the fuse box,” he explains sheepishly, turning back towards the group. 

“Just reset the breakers,” Victor shrugs awkwardly, and Chase turns towards him, eyebrows raised. 

“You don’t think I tried that?” the blonde boy asks exasperatedly, before taking in the other boy and narrowing his eyes suspiciously. “Exactly how many drinks have you had, Vic?”

“Like, two maybe?” he says innocently, before Molly elbows him in the ribs hard enough that it looks like it hurts. “Or maybe five?” the boy corrects with a wince. 

Chase rolls his eyes at that, a fond smirk on his face as he shakes his head. “Well in any case, I left Gert and Old Lace up there so I should probably get back and try to fix the lights,” he shrugs, motioning for Alex, who had just joined them from where he had been talking to the last of the guests, to follow him as he heads out the door, presumably to go join Gert on the roof. 

“He left Gert there? What a dummy,” Molly says shaking her head as she pulls Victor along with her as she follows Chase and Alex out the door. 

Suddenly it’s only Karolina and Nico left in the apartment, and Karolina can feel her heart rate pick up at the realization as her thoughts are flooded with memories of the last time the two of them were alone. Which admittedly was about an hour ago, but it feels like a lot has happened since then, and it’s not like she’s really had the chance to process anything. 

“Uh, so, are you heading out too then?” she asks awkwardly as she turns towards the girl next to her, who’s looking back at her with a thoughtful expression on her face, as if she’s trying to figure her out, and Karolina shifts nervously as she waits for an answer. 

“Actually, I was thinking of sticking around for a bit,” she shrugs eventually, and really Karolina’s not sure how she could possibly be that casual about this if the other girl feels even a fraction of what she’s feeling right now, and maybe Nico being so completely calm right now is a bad sign, but the blonde can’t help but hope that maybe she felt the same way when they shared that kiss earlier. 

“Uh, I mean, if that’s okay with you, of course,” the shorter girl continues when Karolina doesn’t answer, suddenly seeming a lot less confident in her response, and _right_ , she should probably say something. 

“No! I mean, yes, yeah, of course. I would like you to stay. If you want to, I mean,” she manages, stumbling over her words, and she can feel her cheeks heating up as she does, but the amused smirk on the other girl’s face that makes her heart flutter makes her embarrassment more than worth it. 

“Alright then,” Nico nods, her smirk still firmly in place. “Should we go find everyone?” she asks as she gestures towards the front door of the apartment, left open by their friends. 

“Yeah, okay,” Karolina nods, trying not to show her disappointment because okay, so _maybe_ she was hoping to spend some more time just the two of them. But it’s fine, at least she gets a bit more time with her, even if their friends are there too. 

She closes the door behind them and they head upstairs to the roof, and Karolina’s honestly surprised by what Chase had done, which, after having known the boy for as long she has, isn’t something that happens very often anymore. 

The entire roof is lined with unlit string lights, all arranged to look like dozens of butterflies, and it looks like it would be absolutely beautiful if only the bulbs were working. 

“Wow, Chase, this looks really good,” she says sincerely as she heads over to where he and Alex are currently investigating the fuse box and trying to figure out what went wrong. 

“And like a lot of work,” Nico adds as she looks around them, taking in just how many butterflies Chase had set up. 

“Heh, thanks,” he says, turning away from where Alex is currently tinkering to look at them. “It was worth it too, you should’ve seen the look on Gert’s face when she saw them all lit up just before the power went out,” he continues, an adoring smile taking over his face as he looks over to where the purple haired girl’s currently sitting talking to Molly and Victor, Old Lace curled up and fast asleep in her lap. 

They chat with the two boys for a few minutes before a hand slides into her own, squeezing lightly. 

She turns towards the shorter girl, who’s offering her a small smile that she easily returns. 

“I’m going to go see Gert for bit,” she says, before heading towards where the others are sitting, but not before giving Karolina’s hand another squeeze, and the blonde can’t help the grin that breaks out across her face at the gesture, whether or not it was all an act. 

Once Nico takes a seat next to Gert, causing Old Lace to groggily raise her head to look in her direction before settling back down to sleep, Karolina turns back towards the boys, only to find Chase grinning at her. 

“What?” she asks, eyes narrowing at the teasing expression she can read so clearly in his eyes. 

“Nothing,” Chase all but beams, and Karolina can tell that there’s something that he’s just dying to say to her. 

“Tell me,” she insists, sure that she’s going to regret it, but equally sure that Chase is going to keep being weird about it until he says what he wants to say. It’s probably best she just gets it over with now. 

“I just,” he says before pausing for a second, seeming to go over what he wants to say in his head before continuing. “I’m just happy to see you so happy. You really like her, huh?”

And okay, so apparently she’s kind of obvious then. 

“I mean,” she starts, contemplating just how honest she should be with the boy in front of her. 

“Yeah. Yeah I do really like her,” she says, and okay, so complete honesty it is. Well, maybe not _complete_ , but as close to it as possible without giving away the part where she’s an idiot and they aren’t actually dating. 

“She’s… I don’t know. There’s just something about her, she’s so great…” she continues, trailing off at the end, her face falling just a bit, but of course Chase notices. He always notices when it comes to her. 

“But?” he asks immediately, his concern evident on his face and Karolina can’t help but give him a small smile in thanks as they step away from where Alex is working for a bit of privacy. 

“I don’t know. I guess I’m just worried that she doesn’t feel the same way,” she shrugs, and it feels pretty good to at least get some of what’s been on her mind for the past hour and a half off her chest.

“Hey, come on, I know we tease you, but you’re amazing and I hope you know that, Karo. She’d be lucky to have you, but if she doesn’t see that, we’ll all be here for you,” he tells her reassuringly, resting a hand on her arm comfortingly. 

“And besides, if what I saw earlier is any indication, I’m sure she likes you too,” Chase then adds with a smirk, and Karolina can feel her cheeks heat up at his words. 

“Wait, what happened earlier?” Alex says as he walks over to them. “Sorry, I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop. I hit a problem with the power, I could use a hand Chase, when you’re done?” 

“Yeah for sure,” Chase nods, before both boys’ attention is directed back towards Karolina. 

“So are you going to tell him or should I?” the blonde boy teases, but she can tell that he’s genuinely asking if this is okay, and if she said she didn’t want to tell Alex, he would respect her decision. 

“Why are you like this?” she says instead, rolling her eyes as he grins back at her. 

“It’s part of my charm,” he shrugs, before turning towards Alex. “So earlier I went to my room to grab a part from my workbench since a couple screws on my fistigons were coming loose, and you’ll never guess who I found in there,” he smirks, and Alex is suddenly wearing a matching grin on his face. 

“Wow Karolina, you work fast,” Alex laughs, and Karolina groans as she buries her face in her hands. 

“It wasn’t like that!” she insists, shaking her head as she turns away from the two laughing boys and makes her way towards where the rest of the group is sitting. 

She loves her friends, but they can really be annoying sometimes. To be fair though, Chase’s advice _had_ helped her feel a bit better, so maybe she shouldn’t be too hard on him. 

“Hey,” Nico says as Karolina takes a seat next to her on the blanket Chase had set up before bringing Gert up, and the blonde’s heart rate picks up as the shorter girl shifts her position so that she’s partially pressed against her side, their shoulders brushing as they sit. 

“Hi,” Karolina breathes in response, and when she looks back towards the group and away from the girl next to her, Molly and Victor are both grinning widely at her, while Gert watches her with a raised eyebrow. 

“Uh, sorry. Hi, I’m Karolina,” she says awkwardly as the purple haired girl continues to watch her curiously. 

“Gert,” she says curtly, her eyes not leaving the blonde, and okay so this is starting to get a little weird. 

“Uh, so Gert was just telling us about how Chase came up with this whole butterfly light idea,” Molly says, looking back and forth between the two girls confusedly. 

“Oh right,” the girl in question says, finally looking away from Karolina. “So I had mentioned a while back that there was this extinct species of butterfly, the California Blue, that I had always wished I could see. They’re supposed to be huge, and glow in the dark, and generally just be amazing,” she explains, a smile taking over her face as she glances back towards where Chase and Alex are still working. “So since I’ll never get the chance to actually see them, he gave me the next best thing.” 

“Aww, that was really sweet of him,” Karolina says as Molly nods along enthusiastically. 

“Chase is awesome,” the younger girl offers, and Gert smiles fondly at her words. 

“Yeah, he is.”

“Well it was either butterflies or deinonychuses, and I just didn’t have enough lights for the dinosaurs,” the boy in question says with a laugh as he makes his way over to the group, taking a seat next to Gert, who is trying to very hard to hide the blush covering her cheeks. 

Karolina smiles then, because she’s known Chase a long time, and she’s rarely seen him as excited as he is whenever he tells her about the purple haired girl next to him. And if the look Gert’s giving him right now is any indication, she feels the same way. 

Now if only the girl next to Karolina felt the same way about _her_ …

“Alright Chase, I think we’re ready!” Alex calls then from across the roof, and Chase beams as he shoots him a thumbs up, wrapping his other arm around Gert and squeezing her shoulder lightly. 

The other boy flips the switch on Chase’s cue, and suddenly the entire roof is bathed in blue light as the dozens of butterfly-shaped light clusters are illuminated, a stark contrast against the night sky. 

Nico shifts next to Karolina as everyone looks around the roof, taking in just how well Chase had managed to pull this off, but all the blonde can focus on now is just how close the shorter girl is to her, practically leaning against her and suddenly it’s getting kind of warm up here, despite the fact that it’s the middle of the night. 

“Whoa… This is so cool, Chase!” Molly says, looking awestruck as her eyes trace the lights all around them. 

“Thanks Molls,” the boy grins, but his eyes only look to the younger girl for a second before settling back on Gert, who’s trying, and failing, to hide her smile. 

“Thanks Chase,” the purple haired girl says with a fond smile, and the boy’s grin gets impossibly wider at her words. 

Karolina can’t help but look at Nico then, and their eyes meet as soon as she turns her head, almost as if the other girl was already watching her, but that can’t be the case. Especially with how fast her gaze snaps away from the blonde’s as soon as their eyes meet. 

Alex makes his way over to the rest of the group from where he had been putting the final touches on the electrical circuits he had been working so hard on repairing, taking a seat next to Victor. 

“Thanks for your help, Alex,” Chase says with a nod, and the boy in question smiles in response. 

“Yeah, no problem,” he replies. 

“Sorry for ruining the party though, everyone,” the blonde boy continues as he looks around the group. “I’m sure you weren’t planning on spending your night sitting up on the roof.”

“It’s okay Chase, it was an accident,” Molly shrugs with a smile, and everyone else nods in agreement. “And besides, it’s pretty cool up here anyways.”

“I would have liked to finish my costume contest though,” Alex adds, a disappointed look on his face. 

“Sorry,” Chase offers again with a sheepish smile. 

“Who won, anyways?” Molly asks curiously. 

“Probably Karolina and Nico. They make a really good couple,” Victor offers. “I mean couple’s costume,” he corrects, before pausing to think for a second. “But also couple.”

The blonde can feel her cheeks heat up at the boy’s words, and she studiously avoids looking towards the girl next to her as she waits for Alex’s response. 

“Actually no, surprisingly,” he says. “It was our dear hosts, Chase and Victor, who got the most votes.”

Congratulations are offered to the two boys, who are both unreasonably overjoyed at having won their own costume contest, and pretty soon everybody is smiling and laughing as they talk late into the night. 

It’s nearing two in the morning when Chase says he should get Molly to bed, considering he promised her parents, who are friends with his parents, that he would look out for her and make sure that she goes to sleep at a reasonable hour. Gert, Victor, and Alex excuse themselves then too, wishing everyone a good night before heading back inside. 

Nico makes no move to get up though, so Karolina stays sitting with her in a comfortable silence on the roof as they watch the city lights around them, before eventually breaking the silence. 

“Thank you, for tonight,” she says quietly, not wanting to break the spell they are seemingly under, the one that makes it so the two of them are the only people in the whole world right now. 

“What for?” Nico answers, turning to face the blonde directly, who is already mourning the loss of contact. 

“You know, for… everything. For pretending with me,” she shrugs, not meeting the other girl’s eyes because she’s afraid that if she does, the fact that she so badly wants this to not be fake will be written plainly across her face. 

“Oh, right. Yeah,” Nico replies, her face falling slightly, and _great_ , she already regrets agreeing to help her. This isn’t exactly how Karolina had hoped the conversation would go. 

“I was thinking about that, actually,” the shorter girl continues, a small smile taking over her face. “I was wondering if maybe you would want to stop pretending?”

“Oh, uh yeah, okay. Of course,” Karolina nods, willing the tears she can feel pricking at her eyes not to fall, because really that would be the only thing that could make this conversation any more awkward. If she just breaks down in tears like how she kind of wants to now that she knows Nico doesn’t feel the same way. 

“I’ll go tell everyone it was fake and we can stop pretending, and don’t worry, I’ll make sure they know that it was all my idea, and you were just trying to be nice,” she continues, quickly standing and turning away from the other girl before she can notice the stray tear that’s rolling down her cheek. 

“Hey, wait,” Nico says softly then, and suddenly there’s a hand wrapping around her wrist and pulling her back towards the other girl, and Karolina follows willingly, because this is Nico, and even though they’ve only just met, she would do anything for her. Which is honestly a really scary thought, but she really likes the girl next to her, and she was really hoping that something special, something _real_ , might come of this. 

She sits back down nervously, not entirely sure as to what’s going on, but when Nico doesn’t let go of her wrist, she finally turns and meets the other girl’s eyes. 

Her breath catches as blue eyes meet brown, and she’s surprised at the fond look that’s taken over the other girl’s face, a small smile spread across her lips. Not that Karolina’s specifically looking at her lips, she just happened to notice is all. 

And then Nico’s reaching forwards and tucking a loose strand of hair behind the blonde’s ear, and suddenly her heart is racing as she tries to figure out what the heck is going on. 

“That wasn’t quite what I meant,” Nico smirks, and it makes Karolina’s stomach fill with butterflies. (Ironic, considering the string light butterflies that are currently watching them from across the roof.)

“I don’t want to pretend anymore, because I want this to be real,” she whispers. And then suddenly Karolina realizes what’s happening as the other girl’s hand moves to cup her cheek, wiping away the tear with her thumb, and then they’re both leaning in, the distance between them getting less and less until Karolina’s eyes flutter shut as their lips finally connect softly. 

She completely gives in to the feeling, and she can’t help the gasp that escapes her lips as Nico readjusts their positions so that she’s pressed against her, deepening the kiss. 

They spend the next hour up there on the roof just the two of them, alternating between talking and kissing, the lights of the city spread out before them. 

“So what do you think? Have you changed your mind?” Karolina asks, and Nico blinks at her a few times, her brow furrowed adorably, and Karolina can’t help but lean forward and kiss her softly, because that’s just something they do now, and she can’t help but grin at that thought. 

“Sorry, what?” Nico asks once they pull apart, and it takes the blonde a second to remember she had even asked a question in the first place. 

“Do you like Halloween now?”

Nico smirks then, seemingly pondering Karolina’s question for a minute before answering. 

“No,” she says simply. “I don’t. _But I like you_.”

And then Nico’s leaning in again and Karolina’s eagerly closing the distance, and as fingers tangle in her hair she thinks that yeah, she could definitely see herself falling for the girl in her arms. Or maybe she already has.


End file.
